President praises projects to boost regions

While on a visit to the southern Russian city of Belgorod, President Vladimir Putin has said he is satisfied with the way national projects are being carried out in Russia.

The President is inspecting how effectively programmes to develop agriculture, medical care and education are working in the region of Belgorod.

“There were lots of doubts about these national projects, people asked if they would work. The first steps were also quite hard. When we first discussed them two years ago, of course, we doubted the role of priority national projects. Would it be lost money, allocated by the state for housing or agriculture with an unprepared infrastructure or human resources? Would there be any effect at all? I’m very glad that it that the money hasn’t been wasted at all – quite the opposite, in fact.

Of course, lots of problems remain, which simply cannot be solved only with the help of national projects. The national projects are only a catalyst, a push, but quite a considerable one. And the main result is not even the amount of equipment acquired or the number of ambulances purchased, although we have completely re-equipped the ambulance fleet, nor all the improvements in education.

Now, the main result, and in agriculture as well, is that people believe that the state has turned its attention to them – that’s first, and secondly people change because of this and the new possibilities presented by life – their eyes shine – and that’s important. People should have the desire to work and to work effectively,” he stressed.